Hospitality Happy Hour: Katie Button
We sat down with chef and restaurateur Katie Button to discuss her creative process within the ever evolving world of food and hospitality. Born in South Carolina and raised in New Jersey, Button bears the importance of an intentional restaurant design that honors the team that builds it. Alongside her husband, Felix Meana, Katie opened their flagship restaurant, Curate Bar de Tapas in 2011. What has transformed since then into this now Asheville staple, speaks the truth of romantic foods against the backdrop of an award winning restaurant group.
What is your earliest memory of food?
When I think about the most memorable foods I’ve experienced, they’re not elaborate dishes, they’re really simple moments. When I was younger, eating South Carolina peaches, you know, from a roadside stand was my favorite thing to do in summer. Where all the juices run down your arm in each bite.
What ingredient has become your staple?
I recently learned that I am so passionate about anchovies. Finding the perfect cured anchovy can be so simple, over white asparagus, mashing them into the base of ratatouille, gosh it’s the secret magic. It’s this salty, umami, indistinguishable taste!
What details do you look for when plating?
To me, the most beautifully plated dishes are rustically elegant. It doesn’t have to be symmetrical or balanced. Letting things lightly fall into place at different heights and with randomization to it that shows its natural beauty and complexities.
How does the current state of society/the world impact your creative process in restaurant design and menu concept?
The biggest thing that I think impacts restaurant design and experience down to plating, is the team. It takes the entire team to put together what we create. It’s on how the team feels, flows and integrates. Our understanding of the need to develop our team and create a wonderful work environment translates to our restaurant experience.
What is your dream for the movement of food justice/apartheid?
There’s a lot in the world that’s shifted. The main thing I’m learning about is this disconnect on how we look at smaller farms. Something is lost when you scale things for size and financial gain. There’s a loss of focus in quality and smaller farms are creating such wonderful ingredients. It’s a piece of the puzzle. It’s one of the cures. Smaller farms are the ones taking care of the community, the product, and the ingredient. We look past these and look for bigger and more. My dream is that down to the consumer level we start making personal connections with farmers and producers. While also looking at how deep the systemic injustice is and how to make access more available.
And at a dinner party, what foods and topics are on your table?
There will always be Spain, it will always show up on the table. I’ll make a massive charcuterie board, finding the best peppers and olives. For dinner I like things that I can cook ahead of time. A slow braise, because it’s so free form and can be thrown together with whatever protein, herbs, and fruit you have. “What are you discovering right now in your life that’s making you happy”, is the current question I ask around the table.
Lastly, if a fruit or spice had to define your deepest parts, be it from your childhood or what stories you carry now, what would they be?
I’m going to say preserved lemon. I’m so excited about aging because I’m understanding myself and people like I’ve never done before. With preserved lemon the longer it sits in salt the better it gets, becoming complex with change. Lemons are really vibrant and delicious when young but once you add all that salt and all of that time it creates a flavor you never expected. I’m a better person now than I ever have been and I know in ten years just like a preserved lemon I’ll be able to say that again.
